San Francisco's Department of Public Works demonstrated peak bureaucratic theater yesterday when multiple workers stood around a water-filled pothole (which ABC7 breathlessly misidentified as a "sinkhole") while Waymo's autonomous vehicles yolo'd straight through it.
The scene unfolding at Lombard and Gough featured the time-honored tradition of multiple public works trucks and their accompanying humans establishing dominion over a puddle, presumably through intense observation and meaningful pointing.
Meanwhile, Waymo's robot cars, channeling their inner honey badger, repeatedly drove through the allegedly treacherous water feature at what ABC7 dramatically described as "full speed." One viewer observed, "Deeeng that WAYMO have no effs."
The real hero of this municipal theater production? A random citizen who, channeling his inner Harry Tuttle from Brazil, showed up at 18th and Folsom and simply unclogged a drain with his rain boots before any official response could materialize.
No word yet on whether our drain-clearing vigilante will be cited for practicing unauthorized drainage without a permit.
As one particularly salty YouTube commenter pointed out: "It's no wonder CA bullet train costs $200M per mile."
Previously:
• Waymo refuses to let a man catch a flight
• San Francisco sues the California Public Utilities Commission over its decision to allow the expansion of Waymo autonomous vehicles
• Waymo self-driving car hit bicyclist
• Waymo recalls entire fleet after one hits utility pole
• Waymo sues accused robotaxi vandals
